


actions speak louder than words

by BeStillMySlashyHeart



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alex POV, Communication, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Nonverbal Communication, michael POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21701803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeStillMySlashyHeart/pseuds/BeStillMySlashyHeart
Summary: But we didn't even know each other that well, did we?But we didn't even do that much talking!Alex and Michael don't talk. But there are times when they just really don't need to.Or, 5 times Michael and Alex don't use their words and 1 time they do
Relationships: Michael Guerin/Alex Manes
Comments: 10
Kudos: 172





	actions speak louder than words

1.

Alex spent over two hours driving the streets of Roswell. The problem with a guy who lived out of his truck was that he could quite literally be anywhere. Alex checked every place he could think of then started going street by street until he spotted the beat up old Chevy parked underneath a large tree by the edge of the park. Alex parked his own car a little ways away in case anyone drove past and walked the rest of the way.

Michael was laying in the bed of the truck, a plastic bottle of what looked like nail polish remover hanging from his fingertips. His left hand was wrapped in a bloody cloth and his face was wet with recent tears. Alex didn’t say anything as he climbed up next to him. He ignored his own bruised body and broken ribs and pulled Michael into his arms. He came willingly, more limp than anything else really.

At first, Michael was like a rag doll, his body just laying there, unmoving, unresponsive. Every now and then his face would screw up and a few more tears would leak out of the corners of his eyes. He never said a word. Never made a sound.

All through his tears, through his pained wimpers whenever the air hit his hand, Alex rubbed slow circles on his back, his other hand tight in his hair. There was a large part of him that was terrified if he let go for even a second, Michael would disappear. So he didn’t. 

They sat there for hours and Alex never let go. After a little while, Michael leaned into his touch and they shifted until they were lying down. Michael’s body on his chest was painful as hell but Alex didn’t even consider asking him to move. Not right now. Not after- 

He tried not to look at his hand. But sometimes, he couldn’t not. The cloth was obviously once white but the blood had turned it a deep red. Michael hadn’t gone to the hospital, that much was obvious, and Alex knew he’d never recover. Whenever the thought crossed his mind he just held Michael tighter. Michael seemed to sense it and started hugging him back, his right hand reaching up rub at the shell of Alex’s ear. 

They lay there until the sun came up. Alex kept checking his phone, delaying his inevitable departure, until finally Michael shoved at him to go. 

Still, it took five more minutes for Alex to actually let go. And even then, it was only because Michael pulled him into a soft kiss. It was too soft almost, incongruous with the trauma they’d suffered, and it startled Alex enough that he let Michael slip out of his grasp. 

Michael gave him a sad smile and pushed him gently towards his car until Alex finally left.

2.

Alex got an hour out of Roswell before he turned around. He had an extra day to spare, really. It was just good practice not to drive 12 hours the night before he had training. But he could do it.

Michael wasn’t there when he pulled up to the Airstream, not that he was expecting him to be. The whole point of Alex coming back was because Michael wasn’t here. 

The door wasn’t locked, it was never locked honestly, so Alex let himself in and occupied the next couple of hours by rooting through Michael’s things and tidying up. Michael wasn’t a slob by any means, the small space requiring him to pick up after himself, but the obsessive cleanliness of the military had rubbed off on Alex and he was used to a different level of clean these days.

It was earlier than he’d expected when he finally heard the truck drive up. Michael slammed the door as he got out but Alex didn’t leave to meet up, staying right where he was on the bed instead. A moment later the door swung open and Michael bounded up the short stairs. 

Alex propped himself up on his elbows when he saw him standing there in his suit. He looked good, there was no doubt. He also looked miserable. Alex didn’t say a word as he scooted over to put his back to the wall and leave the majority of the bed free. Michael shed the suit and hung it up carefully, no doubt he had to return it tomorrow, and climbed in next to him.

He held himself stiff as a board but Alex ignored that as he flopped on top of his chest and hugged him tight. Michael’s arm came up around his back and the other played with his fingers.

“She was beautiful,” he murmured. Alex didn’t say anything. “It was beautiful.”

Alex hugged him tighter. Today was Isobel’s wedding day and Michael had been relegated to the role of friend. Isobel’s parents had been insistent that only family be a part of the ceremony so Max had given Isobel away and stood next to her husband as they took their vows. Max had sat next to Isobel and their parents at the family table while Michael was given a seat with people he’d never met and would never see again. Alex wasn’t even sure if Michael had been included in any of the family photos. If he knew Isobel Evans at all, he was sure she would have insisted on a few but he also knew the pressure parents could put on a kid and the Evans’ had certain expectations. 

Michael had been dreading this day for months, his emails full of anxiety over it and half their conversations this past week about how he was going to make it through. He’d asked Alex to go with him but Alex had to report back. As it was, he’d need to leave in an hour or two if he wanted to get any sleep on the other end of the drive. But, for now, he had a few minutes to be with Michael.

Michael, who’d taken the event and the way it unfolded to heart in a way that Alex couldn’t quite understand. He’d never understood the insecurities Michael had about being wanted, about being loved. Alex knew his family was shit and so he had no expectations but Michael valued Max and Isobel Evans as his siblings, his family. So to be excluded from a huge event in Isobel’s life was hitting him hard. 

Alex didn’t have any words to ease that pain so he just held him. It was all he could do.

His phone beeped at him an hour later, his warning that it was time to get on the road. Michael tensed under him at the sound so Alex hit the snooze button. 

It went off 15 minutes later and he hit snooze again.

The third time, Michael sat up and turned off the alarm. Without a word, he got out of the bed and tugged on a pair of jeans while Alex got up.

He led the way out of the trailer and to Alex’s truck, pausing with the driver’s side door open while Alex caught up. Alex tossed his phone and his keys inside and looked to Michael, unsure of how to leave. They’d said goodbye earlier, when Alex had left that morning.

Michael gripped the back of his neck and pulled him into a bruising kiss. Alex responded in kind but quickly gentled it, his own fingers tangling in the curls at the back of his neck. Michael nipped his bottom lip gently as he pulled away. 

“Drive safe.”

3.

The door closed softly on the nurse and Alex wanted to rage. He wanted to get up and slam the door or at the very least throw something at it. He was furious and all he could do was lay in this stupid bed. 

It was infuriating.

It was demeaning.

It was miserable.

The door opened and Alex reached for the apple on his breakfast tray. His hand froze in mid-air as a head full of vibrant curls poked its way inside.

“Guerin?” Alex gasped. He hadn’t seen Michael in almost three years. Hadn’t talked to him in over one.

Sure enough, Michael Guerin pushed his way into Alex’s hospital room. He started to ease the door shut behind him, paused, then slammed it. Laughter bubbled up in his throat and Alex grinned for the first time in weeks. Michael smiled back, a little smaller, a little less gleeful, but genuine. He stayed by the door until Alex held up an arm and then suddenly he was next to him, half on the bed as he hugged Alex close. Alex gripped him back just as tightly even though their positioning made it awkward. He’d love to move and give him space to sit fully on the bed but Alex’s mobility was limited these days.

Michael pressed a kiss to Alex’s hair and pulled back. He hooked his foot through the leg of the bedside chair and pulled it close, sitting down once he could while still touching Alex. He hadn’t let go yet and Alex didn’t want him to. It felt so good to be touched by someone other than a doctor or a nurse. Michael gripped his hand tight and used his free hand to brush the hair off of Alex’s face. It was finally long enough that he could do that again but Alex couldn’t bring himself to appreciate it. 

“Here,” Michael mumbled after a while, once the sun was up and Alex was waiting for his lunch to be delivered. He pulled something out of his jacket pocket and held it up. It was a tennis ball. A little beaten, a lot old, but still. A tennis ball.

Alex took it, confused until Michael nodded his head at the wall opposite Alex. It was the only wall in the room free of medical equipment and far enough away that Alex could-

He chucked the tennis ball as hard as he could at the wall. It bounced back at him faster than he anticipated and it was only Michael’s reflexes that saved Alex from a broken nose.

With a laugh, Michael held it out again. 

Alex through it again.

And again.

And again.

He caught it about half of the time, Michael the other half. Only once did Michael have to let go of his hand to grab it before it hit the machines and Alex was more careful after that. 

By the time the nurse came by to let them know visiting hours were over, Alex had smiled more than he had since before the accident. They’d barely spoken two words the whole day, but they didn’t need them.

“I’ve gotta drive back,” Michael told him as he prepared to leave. Alex tallied up the hours it took to drive here from Roswell and felt a rush of love for Michael the likes of which he wasn’t sure he’d ever felt before.

He nodded and waited.

Michael turned to go and Alex couldn’t hold back the little whine. The nurse smirked in the doorway and left to give them a moment’s privacy. The second the door started to close, Michael turned around and dropped his jacket onto Alex’s bed as he grabbed Alex’s face with both hands and kissed him soundly. When he pulled away, Alex grabbed the collar of his shirt and tugged him back in. 

A knock and a cough from the door broke them apart. Michael kissed him one last time and left without a goodbye. 

Alex turned away from the doorway and stared at the tennis ball sitting on the bedside table.

4.

The sounds of construction filled the air. A power saw whirred away next to him while hammers pounded across the room. Michael focused on not dropping the large sheet of glass in his hands as he and Kyle carefully guided it into the room.

They’d made no progress on fixing Max but they’d decided to fix his house. The fight with Noah had basically destroyed the back wall of his house, windows and doors shattered, and the weather was only getting colder. Liz and Rosa holed up inside for a few days before calling everyone to action to put a new wall into place. Michael wasn’t sure what qualified any of them to do any sort of construction but they seemed to be figuring it out. Alex knew his way around a saw and was cutting blocks of wood for the frame and the siding while Liz and Maria hammered everything into place. Rosa and Isobel were in charge of making sure all of the materials and tools were accounted for and ensuring that everything was up to code. Michael wasn’t sure what that last bit entailed but he knew Isobel had spent several hours yelling at people on the phone about it. Michael and Kyle were roped into the heavy lifting and had spent the last two days lugging wood inside and now getting the window panes into the house so that they could be fitted into the new openings. 

They set it down gently against the wall and put some padding around it before heading out for the other piece. As they walked outside, Michael passed by Liz and Maria hard at work and he had to work hard to suppress a flinch. 

His hand might be healed but Max could never do anything to erase the sound and the image of a swinging hammer from his memory. Maria pounded the final nail into place, a loud thwack ringing in the air as the saw cut out. She turned and smiled at him but all he could do was run.

He made it to the other side of the house before he realized he’d actually fled. Out here it was blessedly silent and he closed his eyes to soak in the sound. This far out of town, on the edge of the desert, there was no traffic, no wildlife, no people chattering. It was peaceful.

It also made it really easy to hear someone walking up next to him. Part of him wanted it to be Maria, wanted her to realize something was wrong and come after him, but he knew it wasn’t.

The truck shifted as the other person leaned against it, a careful distance maintained between the two of them. They stood together in silence for a minute, Michael refusing to open his eyes. When calloused fingers slid down his arm to his hand, he squeezed them tighter.

Alex pulled his left hand up and held it between his own, his fingers gently massaging the last two fingers and the outside of his palm. It didn’t actually hurt anymore ( fuck thank you, Max) but a phantom pain lingered anyway and Alex’s touch soothed the ache better than anything else.

Michael wasn’t sure how long they stood there for but he relished every second. The quiet plus Alex’s touch and the easing of the pain in his hand made him more tired than he’d been in weeks. 

“Next load?” Kyle asked quietly and how the hell did Michael not hear him approach? Alex dropped his hand slowly, met Michael’s eyes, nodded, and walked away without a word. 

Michael watched him leave before facing Kyle and nodding. Kyle looked like he might be a little worried but he didn’t say anything and they quickly got back to work.

5.

Michael was going to lose it. They had one min-57 seconds to get out of the building before it blew up and he was having terrifying flashbacks to Caulfield only this time he couldn’t find Alex. He’d already sent the others out, Kyle charged with making sure Isobel wasn’t in the building when it blew, and he was sprinting down the halls looking for Alex. 

“Michael-” he heard a faint cough and he skidded to a halt. Quickly, he backtracked until he found Alex.

“Jes-” Michael started to curse when he saw him but they didn’t have time. He hurried in and lifted Alex up, his powers supporting his right side when Michael spotted the prosthetic lying twisted on the floor. 

“They’re-” Alex started to say but Michael didn’t bother listening to him. Instead, he focused on getting them out of the room, down the hall, and out the door. He saw sunlight as the first explosion hit. Tasted the fresh air as the second hit, closer this time. He knew they wouldn’t survive the third one. A warm cocoon wrapped around them as the world exploded into fire. Michael pulled Alex close as the cocoon shrunk until it was just their bodies, hardly any air left to breathe. A long, long moment later, the fire receded enough for Michael to spot Isobel standing in front of them, a hand outstretched as she started to double over from the strain. He hauled Alex close and ran for safety, clearing the fire entirely just as Isobel lost control of the cocoon. 

“Alex?” Liz cried as she rushed past Isobel. 

“We need to go,” Alex urged. He nudged Michael in the direction of the truck, ignoring everyone’s cries as they got a good look at him. Well, what they could see under the blood.

Michael got them to the truck and put Alex in the bed before climbing up next to him. He tossed his keys to Maria without a word and wrapped his arms around Alex as everyone else climbed in. Within seconds, the destroyed base was fading into the distance.

“What happened?” Liz asked. Alex shook his head.

“Do you need a hospital?” Kyle leaned forward as far as he could, a hand supporting Isobel as she listed to the side. Again, Alex shook his head.

Kyle opened his mouth to argue the point but Michael cut him off. “It’s not his blood.” Kyle and Liz looked at him in horror and surprise while Alex just fell into him, suddenly listless.

Michael rested his forehead on Alex’s head as he remembered the scene he’d walked into. Alex had been sitting on the floor, covered in blood. Around him were the scattered bodies of his father and brothers. Jesse and the oldest had neat holes in the forehead while Flint lay gasping from a stomach wound on the other side of Alex. In his lap, Alex had held his older brother, the one he actually liked, as he murmured apologies, blood coating his lips as he spoke. Michael had spared them hardly a glance as he dragged Alex out of there but he knew that room was going to haunt Alex for the rest of his life. No matter how he’d felt about his family, they’d still been his family. And now they were gone. All of them.

Alex burrowed deeper into Michael’s arms and Michael shifted until he could swing Alex’s legs across his lap and hold him closer. This way, Alex could wrap his arms around Michael and hold him just as tight. He bent his head and pressed his ear to Michael’s chest, just over his heart. Michael cupped his head and held him there as he breathed slow and steady so Alex could hear his heartbeat and feel his chest move. He was here. He was alive. Alex hadn’t lost his  _ entire _ family. 

+1

“Marry me?”

“Yes.”


End file.
